Do Woodpeckers Hold the Key to Better Helmets?

New research finds that the woodpecker's unique physiology could show us how to prevent concussions in humans.

Chinese researchers have studied in great detail just how woodpeckers are able to keep their brains in order despite hammering their beaks against wood for their entire lives. They say that the insights gleaned from the little birds' brains could also help in designing helmets to better prevent concussions in hockey players, football players, and cyclists. Using a super slow-motion camera to record the birds' movements, and then electron microscopes to examine in great detail the bone structure of their heads, the researchers concluded that there are three things that keep the birds safe. First is the bone called the hyoid, which gives us our Adam's apple but in woodpeckers extends from under their beak all the way around their head, acting like a safety belt to prevent much movement of the brain. Second, the upper half of the beak is longer than the lower, which helped lessen the force that made it to the brain. And finally, certain parts of the birds' skull were spongier than others, making those regions better at absorbing impact. The researchers say that all these factors together could help helmet manufacturers find ways to spread impacts to the head around, although we're unsure if this means attaching beaks to hockey helmets.